How does one define torture?
I'm not asking this as some sort of stupid question that requires a dictionary.com fed answer. I'm asking this as a legitimate question: what do you consider torture?
I consider torture the cause of physical pain to another in order to gain information. Thus, I do not consider the use of sodium pentothal torture and readily condone its use. (Of course, it's not JUST physical pain; I'm not getting into the "your family will be killed if you don't tell us what we want to know, watch me cut your daughter" kind of things.)
I think all forms of torture--in my terms, that is--are appalling and should never be used...unless as a last resort. Suppose we were to have a situation like in that movie where a group of neo-Nazis pit the Russians against the Americans, almost sparking another world war (the name completely evades me at the moment; it came out shortly before K-19: The Widowmaker). Suppose we have a situation where terrorists have placed a nuclear weapon in a place where it will kill thousands of people (I believe it was in a stadium in the movie). And it's on a timer.
Would any means necessary to extract the location of this bomb be acceptable? If not, thousands of innocents will perish. If so, someone has committed a crime against humanity.
I hate to say it--I really and truly hate to--but I would turn a blind eye to torture in this case. Could I be the torturer? No. An evil act, even for the greater good, is still evil, especially one as despicable as torture. However, as hypocritical as it might seem, I would allow another to torture one of the terrorists to get the information.
I would probably never forgive myself for that deed, but I would never forgive myself for choosing to let so many perish, either.